How can you be so sure that you’re right?

This is a question that gets tossed around a lot in debates about religion.

Sometimes a Christian asks an atheist this, with the implication being that in order to reject Christianity and put one’s immortal soul at risk for eternity, one ought to be very sure that it is false.  I always cringe when I hear it in this context, for two reasons.  First, my understanding of hell and who goes where differs from the conventional view; issues of salvation and the afterlife are simply not as clear-cut as many Christians present them to be in arguments or tracts.  I often wonder whether Continue reading “How can you be so sure that you’re right?”